


A Magical Adventure

by Yeah_ALittle



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Super Sons (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Potential OOCness, Unbeta'd, Winx Club AU, tags will be updated as necessary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:14:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24380389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeah_ALittle/pseuds/Yeah_ALittle
Summary: Jon Lane's world turns upside down when he meets a mysterious boy on the streets of Metropolis---Winx Club AU for the Win!
Relationships: Jonathan Samuel Kent & Damian Wayne
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Alfea College

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off [this lovely artwork](https://juneii-art.tumblr.com/post/178510219046/magic-winx-a-little) by Juneii-art on Tumblr.
> 
> As this is a one to one AU, the characters don't have their normal powers, Jon has Bloom's, Damian has Stella's, etc.
> 
> This is kind of a Winx Season 1 rewrite, but not completely, as the change in characters do change what happens a lot, but there are some consistent plot points I've kept along with specific classes. But I've AUed it enough that it's not just rewriting what happens in the episodes and changing names and genders. It probably helps I don't watch the episodes when writing most of the chapters.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this, I did my best.

Damian wandered around a human city, a place called Metropolis, he had tracked an ogre to this place but lost its trail soon after arriving. Knowing ogres it most likely hid in a forest or swamp or under a bridge. Now all Damian had to do was find a forest or swamp or bridge in this forsaken place. Which was proving harder than it seemed since all around him was lifeless metal constructs, there was no magic anywhere in this place and it showed. Everything was just a little off in colour, it seemed duller than other places Damian had visited. Perhaps that was just the city but it still felt cold, despite the sun shining brightly through the streets. The people here were also considerably rude, the boy had to keep swerving to avoid getting knocked over and if he didn’t he was treated as if he should apologize for not moving out of the way. Which he didn’t. Ever. Princes don’t apologize to the peasantry. That was what his mother and grandfather had taught him.

“You playing hooky too?” A boy asked quietly, coming up beside Damian. The boy was taller than Damian, with black hair, horribly pale skin and blue eyes.

“Hooky?” Damian asked in return, not bothering to look at the boy as he asks it, keeping his gaze forward and senses open in case he catches a whiff of ogre.

“You know, skipping school. I normally don’t but it’s parents day and mom has to work and I don’t really want to be asked about dad. Again. What about you?” The boy says.

Damian clicks his tongue before he realizes the boy could be helpful. Ignoring his question, Damian asks “Is there a forest around here? Or a swamp? Or a bridge?”

“Yeah? There’s a park pretty close. No swamp but there are a couple of bridges outside of the city.”

“Take me to the park.” Damian orders, ignoring the boys' confusion.

“Okaaaay. You could be nicer, you know? I’m Jon by the way, what’s your name?”

“Damian.” With that, the conversation should’ve been finished. That had been Damian’s experience with peasantry like the boy in front of him. However, Jon seemed to take it as an opportunity to make the conversation last until they reach the park.

“Here we are!” Jon exclaims as they enter the park. He says some other things but Damian is no longer paying attention. He’s found the ogre. Damian runs off in the direction the ogre is, deep into the trees of the park. “HEy!” Damian could faintly here Jon calling after him but paid it no matter. Damian stops in a clearing silently. Neither the ogre nor it’s little goblins have noticed him. 

Damian pulls off his ring and throws it into the air, as it lengthens and turns into a sceptre his clothes change into a pair of orange sparkly short shorts and an asymmetrical one-shoulder orange sparkly crop top. Wings make themselves at home on his back and orange chunky heeled knee-high boots do the same on his feet. A blue headband appears on his hair and armguards of the same colour appear on his forearms Damian grabs his sceptre, a long silver staff with a sun in a circle at the end of it.

Damian sends a light beam at the ogre and some o the goblins, destroying the goblins. The orge seemed merely annoyed. “Great,” Damian muttered and used his staff to fight off some of the goblins. “Rising sun!” Damian calls burning a small horde of goblins that came at him before fighting off the others who had gotten too close.

“Me crush Fairy!” The ogre calls before charging at Damian. Damian, despite the warning, was knocked over due to the number of goblins holding his attention.

“*TT* Solar wind!” Damian calls swinging his staff and causing all the goblins and the ogre to fly back.

“Hey! Stop hurting him!” Jon calls running into the clearing.

“You idiot! Get the hell out of here!” Damian yells at the human who for some reason decided he should try and fight an 8-foot ogre. Before Jon could respond the goblins head after Jon going to attack him. Jon braces for an attack, protecting his face with his arms when a bright light radiates off of them and sends the goblins flying away. After a couple of moments, Jon peaks out from behind his arms. Damian had re-engaged the ogre and was winning until a goblin snuck up behind him and covered his eyes, unable to have a moment to adjust to fighting blind, Damian gets thrown into a tree. Or rather through a tree.

Once Damian was down for the count, the ogre went after Jon. “Wha- Hey! Let me go!” Jon cries struggling in the ogre’s grip. “Let! Me! Go!” Jon cries out once more but this time the ogre lets go or rather gets knocked unconscious. 

“Impressive. For a human.” Damian states walking back over to the pair. “I’d suggest going back to whatever hole you crawled out of. Lest you decide death is a better fate.” Damian states pointing his sceptre at the downed ogre.

“Ah!” Jon cries as a goblin tears off part of his hoodie with his mouth before running over to the ogre.

“Yeah yeah. See you later, princess!” The ogre calls before disappearing. Damian growls but otherwise stays silent after the creature’s departure.

“What was that?” Jon asks, walking up next to Damian.

“None of your concern. What was your name again?” Damian asks, eyeing Jon with suspicion.

“Jon. Jon Lane.”

“Jon Lane?”

“Well my full name is Jonathan Lane but everyone calls me Jon. What about you? What’s your full name?”

“Depends on who you ask.” Damian states and de-transforms, back into the clothing he had come here in, his sceptre turning back into a ring. “What are you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You have magic, or at least potential, yet you seem human.”

“I am human.”

“Which is impossible. Humans haven’t been magical in centuries. Meaning you can’t possibly _be_ human.”

“Hey!”

“Who’re your parents?”

“My mom is Lois Lane. Never met my dad.”

“ *TT* take me to her.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Not until you explain what the heck is going on!”

“I am a fairy. That was an ogre. Those little things were goblins. You are either a warlock or a fairy. But you are definitely not human. Human fairies went extinct centuries ago when Wizards hunted them to extinction for their magic. Wizards are dark Warlocks. Fairies are light Witches. I’ll explain the differences between the two later when you do as I say and take me to your mother.”

“She’s at work. She won’t be home for..” Jon trails off as he checks his wrist, “ten minutes… Oh heck! That took way longer than I thought it did! I promised mom I would stay at home today.”

“I thought you were playing ‘hooky’? Do humans often tell their parents when they’re going to skip school?”

“She knows how much I hate parent day so she said I could stay home today. Ah, shoot. We gotta go. Now.” Jon states and takes off running, Damian follows close behind him.

\-----Lois POV-----

When Lois arrived home she was quite surprised her little bundle of energy didn’t immediately come to greet her. Of course, that surprise tapered off to disappointment when she realized it was because he wasn’t even in the apartment. She sighs and goes about making herself an afternoon snack, mentally preparing the lecture she was going to give Jon.

Of course, that lecture flew out of her mind when she saw her son half dragging half carrying a tan-skinned boy into the apartment. “Jonathan Samuel Lane! What on earth happened?!” Lois calls startling her son into almost dropping the unconscious boy. 

“Hi mom, uh, I can explain? But can I put him on the couch first?” Jon asks hesitantly. Lois waves him toward the living room and pours herself a cup of coffee. Its cold, since it was from earlier today, but she just throws it into the microwave. While she’s waiting for it to heat up she thinks of what she should say to her son. Being a single mother wasn’t what she had planned for her life and it certainly hadn’t been easy, but she had never thought there’d be a day where her son would drag an unconscious child home. The unconscious boy looked to be younger than Jon for heaven's sake! Lois takes the coffee cup out of the microwave as it beeps at her and drinks it as she approaches her son. 

“Who is he?” Lois asks first, sitting down in the chair beside the couch. Jon was crouched on the ground looking worriedly up at the other boy.

“Damian. He said that his last name depends on who you ask.”

“He might be a runaway, or he was adopted by someone who made him take their name.”

“Or he might be a fairy who doesn’t have the cultural concept of last names?” Jon suggests half-heartedly.

“Now is not the time for jokes Jon.”

“He is only partially joking. Depending on if I’m in Solaria or Gotham my last name changes. Al Ghul or Wayne.”

“You shouldn’t be joking either mister.” Lois states as Damian sits up. 

“I’m not, Miss Lane. I’m a fairy. Your son is magical. Who’s his father?” Damian asks.

“Perhaps I should have you convicted in a mental hospital since you are clearly not well.”

“And you’re clearly avoiding the question. Who is his father? I’d posit that you’re not his mother but you have enough similarities in your facial structure that that would be entirely incorrect.”

“Jon where on earth did you find this boy?” Lois asks, turning to her son who just shrugs.

Damian rolls his eyes and waves his hand at the vase on the coffee table, turning the flowers into a bunch of weapons. 

“Wha-”

“I’m magical. So is your son. I came here hunting an ogre before going to attend Alfea College for Fairies. Who his father is will most likely assist is telling me whether his magical powers will manifest him as a fairy or a warlock.”

“I don’t know. I have no memory of any man in my life around the time I found out I was pregnant.” Lois states, glaring at Damian.

“ *TT* of course. I’ll take him with me to Alfea. The base courses he’ll be going through will work regardless of whether he’s a fairy or a warlock. And he’ll most likely manifest there, surrounded by magic.”

“You are not taking my son anywhere.” 

“If I don’t either a magic hunter will come and tear him bow to stern or he’ll go out of control and destroy this entire city. Magic beings need to have control. If you wish I can take you to see Alfea castle but you won’t be able to enter. There’s a magical force field around that that won’t let any non-magical being in.” Damian stops looking at both Lois and Jon before adding on, “However, we don’t need to leave immediately. Registration won’t end for another couple of days so you have 45 earth hours to decide.”

“45?”

“Better early than miss it altogether.”

“Fine. But I want to know everything about Alfea.” Lois demands and Damian acquiesces.

“Better get ready for a real interrogation. Mom’s a journalist.” Jon stage-whispers to Damian as Lois heads back into the kitchen to make them all a snack.

\-----Damian POV----

After a lengthy interrogation, Damian and Jon are sent off to sleep.

“These should fit you,” Jon says offering up a pair of green shorts and a long sleeve shirt. Damian raises his eyebrow at the offering but wiggles his fingers so the clothes appear on him. The shirt was a bit big but otherwise, they fit fine. “So, do you really think I’ll fit in at Alfea?” Jon asks, sitting down on his bed.

“No. But you’ll learn, which is the point of school.”

“School! Crap. How’s mom going to explain pulling me out of school?”

“She’ll probably say you got accepted into a prestigious boarding school that she cannot share the name of because it’s a security risk.”

“How’d you figure that?”

“Because that’s what she was telling your school when you had the Television playing loudly.”

“How’d-”

“I can read lips.” 

“Is that something I’ll learn at Alfea?” 

“No. I learnt to as a child. Solaria is the kingdom of the Sun. It’s hot and dry, sandy. Wind storms are loud so often times you can’t hear what the person next to you is saying. Lip reading is good for that.”

“Oh. Hey, what's the difference between Witches, Wizards, Warlocks and Fairies?” Jon asks, remembering Damian had promised to explain it to him.

“In simplest terms, Warlocks and Faires are good, Witches and Wizards, bad. In more complicated terms;Warlocks don’t technically exist, they’re a new denomination, they’re wizards who use positive energy and emotion to fuel their magic, they’re typically good. Fairies also use positive energy, or in some places, white magic to fuel their abilities. However, each fairy has their own unique thing. Mine in the sun because of my mother. Witches and Wizards use dark energy, or black magic, to fuel their abilities. Witches have a unique thing like fairies, so they’re typically considered Fairy’s magical opposites. In the past, Wizards haven’t aligned themselves with either good or bad, but with an influx of wizards who do align themselves with evil, ‘Wizards’ has come to be synonymous with ‘Witch. ‘Warlocks’ came about so wizards who are good don’t have to explain that everytime they introduce themselves. 

“So the biggest difference is energy and what fuels their abilities?”

“*tt* more or less. The energy one can also be used predict whether they’ll be a dark or light user. Your energy is almost as bright as your skin in the sunlight. It’s warm so you’re most likely a fairy or warlock. If your energy were darker, more like an abyss and cold you’d most likely be a witch or wizard. Of course, you could always go dark and a dark user can always go light. It’s just not common.”

“Huh. What do you think my transformation will look like?” Jon asks excitedly

“Definitely fairy.” Damian mutters to himself before shrugging in answer to Jon’s question, “Who knows, anything is possible.”

“So it could be any colour?” Jon asks, eyes shining bright with excitement.

“It could be multiple colours.”

“Even black?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I don’t know. Just- typically black is a sign of darkness.Evil”

“What world do you live in? Colours are colours. Warmth and coldness, brightness and darkness are signs of good and evil. One of my father’s enemies is the most brightly coloured bastard I know and he literally kills people.”

“Whoa.” 

Before Damian could do more than roll his eyes a loud crash was heard outside the bedroom. Damian silently got up and walked out of the room, creeping over to the living room he spies Miss Lane along with a hunter troll and the ogre from before, and a bunch of goblins. 

“Mom!” Jon cries having followed Damian.

“You idiot,” Damian growls before dive-rolling into the kitchen, causing the goblins to chase after him. Damian grabs a frying pan and easily dispatches the goblins with it before taking all the knives out of the knife block and heading back to the living room. The scene he was met with was Lois Lane standing in front of her son with a lamp raised high as if to strike the hunter troll who was advancing on the pair. Swearing lightly Damian whips one of the knives at the troll. They wouldn’t do much damage as they were made of a lesser metal but they would do for now. Damian throws another knife at the troll and keeps doing so until he ran out of the smaller knives, instead brandishing a long one and a large rectangular one. 

“As impressive as you are Damian, can we move this fight somewhere else?” Jon calls, glancing worriedly at the shattered window. Someone would’ve heard that and either the police or a news crew will arrive. Damian jabs the longer knife into the hunter troll’s stomachs and pulls off his ring, quickly transforming it into a staff he bangs it on the ground. The next thing any of them know, they’re in the middle of the park Jon had taken Damian to earlier that day.

Damian moves to stand alongside Jon and his mother, putting the sceptre back into its ring form and brandishing another knife. He had brought their enemies with them. “Are those my kitchen knives?” Lois asks but Damian pays her no mind. 

“As much as I hate to admit this we are outmatched and I don’t have much energy. Teleporting us took more out of me than I thought.” Damian states through gritted teeth.

“So what do we do?” Jon asks as Lois grabs one of her knives from Damian, holding it out in front of herself. Before Damian could answer a red arrow shot out from the trees and struck the hunter troll. Damian groans as another projectile comes out from the forest and lands on the ogre. Except the projectile was a buff girl who was white as the moon. Another girl came out of the forest holding a large bow and shooting red energy arrows at the hunter troll.

“You know them?” Lois asks.

“They’re specialists. People from the magical worlds who don’t have much magic but wish to fight alongside magic users.” Damian explains before jumping into the fight, using the kitchen knives to dispense some goblins he took with them before helping the specialists fight the hunter troll and ogre.

\-----Jon POV----

Soon enough their enemies are gone. The hunter troll is dealt with and the ogre from before once again magics himself away.

“Coward,” Damian mutters, crossing his arms as the two specialists come over to see him and the Lanes. “This is Crush and Emiko. Emiko is a princess. Crush is, Crush. These are the Lanes, Lois and Jon.” Damian states gesturing at the buff white girl first and then at the arrow girl.

“Nice to meet you,” Emiko states with a smile. 

“We’ll see you later,” Crush says, turning her back on the group to go chain up the hunter troll. “Come on! We need to get back before they find us missing!” Crush calls back to Emiko who was looking at Damian up and down.

“Cute outfit.” She says before running over to catch the portal back to their school with Crush.

Damian rolls his eyes,“*Tt* I’ll take us back,” Damian grabs his sceptre once more and teleports them back into the apartment.

“You boys go get some sleep. I’ll deal with everything.” Lois says hustling the pair off to Jon’s room. “Sleep.” She orders one last time before shutting the door

\----Damian POV----

“Alright, due to the specialists arriving yesterday, I actually need to head to Alfea later today. Headmistress Faragonda wishes to hear about my encounter with a troll.” Damian states as he enters the main room of the Lane’s apartment. The window had been temporarily fixed with some sort of tape but it would still require replacing along with everything else in the living room the troll trashed. Jon was helping his mom clean up but stopped and looked over at Damian as he spoke.

“So, you’ll be leaving?”

“Yes, with or without you. So you have until later today to decide whether you wish to join me or not.” Damian states, then adds, “Also considering I am partly responsible for the damaged caused I can clean it up and repair everything.”

“That’s a kind offer. You can repair the window if possible but I was thinking of redecorating this room anyways.” Lois says, standing up and brushing off her pants. Damian nods and waves his hands at the window, soon enough the tape was gone and in its place was a large window. 

“This one won’t break even with a troll crashing through it,” Damian states, shoving his hands into the pocket of his jeans.

“Hopefully I’ll never be in that situation again. Now, Jon, I can see you bursting at the seams. I have three conditions; 1 you have to write me every week, 2 you have to do well in school- no matter how much fun you’ll have with magic focus on your schoolwork and do your best. I don’t expect anything less than your best when I get the grade report. Damian will explain which grades are best. 3, Be yourself. No matter what happens, be true to yourself. Do you accept these conditions?” 

“Yes! Yes. Yes, mom I accept your conditions for me going to Alfea. I’ll go pack!” Jon exclaims, running to his room.

“His grades will be horrendous. Depending on how much he blooms in Alfea they might only start to get better at the end of the term.” Damian states after a moment of silence.

“So long as he tries his best, I don’t care if he has to repeat a year. He’s my son, his best is the best I could ask for.” Lois explains before going back to picking things up and putting them in black bags. Damian remained silent for a moment before moving forward and assisting Lois is cleaning up the debris.

Hours later the room was clean and Jon and Damian were preparing to head off.

“Are you sure she can’t come with us?” Jon asks again for the thousandth time ever since Damian told him non-magical people can’t enter the realm of Magix. “Maybe she’s magic too!”

“I cannot sense any magical energy from her and should you be wrong and she not have magic she will be ripped apart by the barrier protecting Magix.” Damian states. Before Jon could protest Lois cuts in.

“It’s fine Jon. Damian is going to keep me updated on your condition and everything. And you’ll visit me on breaks.” 

“Okay. I’ll miss you, mom.” Jon says hugging his mother tightly. Damian waits off to the side with their bags, as soon as Jon is ready, he teleports them to Alfea.

\----Jon POV----

“Welcome to Alfea College for Fairies, newly coed” Damian says as they walk toward the large castle.Jon looks at Damian questioningly. What does ‘newly coed’ mean? Thankfully, Damian explains further without prompting, “It used to just be for girls but they widened their arms of education to accept some of other genders. Although there are only two other boys attending the school right now.”

“Only two?”

“They’re testing the waters, making sure boys aren’t any more trouble than the girls are. Also, despite Alfea being the best school for Fairies, some people are morons.” Damian explains with a shrug as they pass through the gate. Jon opens his mouth to speak but stops when he hears a stern-sounding lady speak. 

“What was your name?”

“Lily Rose of Marchusa, Miss Griselda.”

“Now let us see if you're on the list.” Miss Griselda says scanning the list, the longer she scans the more nervous the girl in front of her seems. “Ah, here you are. Lily Rose of Marchusa.” With that, the girl seems to relax as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

“Damian, what are we going to do? I’m not on the list.” Jon hisses to Damian, leaning closer to the shorter boy.

“Relax. My friend, Colin Wilkes, was supposed to attend this semester but father decided to homeschool him instead. I’m supposed to give Miss Griselda a letter stating so but I seem to have lost it.” Damian says, shrugging nonchalantly

“...What?”

“I’m telling them your name is Colin Wilkes, you are fourteen years old,and you hail from Gotham. You are going to agree with me. Also, this is easiest because Colin was in a similar situation as you but recently figured out he was a Warlock, not a fairy so they’ll be more lenient with you.”

“So we’re going to lie?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t-”

“Relax. I’ll be lying. You’re a pawn.” Damian states and starts moving them towards Griselda.

“Prince Damian, I see you decided to heed the Headmistress’s request. Who is your friend?”

“This is Colin Wilkes, he’s from Gotham. Father would’ve called about him?” Damian says, the last one a semi-sarcastic reminder. Jon just nodded trying not to let his surprise about Damian being a Prince show.

“Yes, he’s right here. Unknown energy. Warlock or Fairy. Well, I suppose we’ll have to keep an eye on you.” Miss Griselda says, before waving the pair off. 

Once out of earshot Jon leans down and hisses at Damian “You’re a prince?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t see the information as something necessary for you to know.”

More students filter in as their quiet argument unfolds. Eventually, Miss Griselda heads over to where all the students are gathered. “Attention!” She calls and all students quiet down and give her their full attention. “Now, this school will be your home for the next five years. But! This home will not remain yours should you break the rules. This school is built on discipline, if you break the rules set in place I will _personally_ escort you to the front gate. This is not a magician's school, you are not learning hocus pocus. You _cannot_ use your powers outside of classrooms supervised by teachers. Understood?” With a chorus of “yes” ‘s in response Miss Griselda finishes her speech, just as four other teachers arrive.

“I’m sorry I’m late, I hope you will forgive me.” A gray-haired woman says, leading the pack of teachers.

“Fairies, meet your headmistress.”

“Now really, there’s no need to be so stodgy.” The Headmistress says to Griselda before addressing the students. “I hope Griselda hasn’t frightened you too much. Welcome to Alfea, the best Fairy School in the whole of Magix. Of course, it is also the only one. Now come along Ladies and Gents.” The Headmistress says, moving toward one of the stairs leading into the actual building. Everyone files along after her.

~~~~~~~~

“Now, here we begin our orientation session, by the end of which we should all know each other better.” The Headmistress says as they enter a large room with a large golden staircase in the middle of it. “Being a fairy is hard work, but I know everyone here can do it. Keep in mind that the teachers and I are always here to help you. Alright, enough of the boring stuff, feel free to explore your surroundings. But be careful as there are dangers lurking about,” Jon notices Damian rolling his eyes, “stay away from the witches of Cloud Tower.”

“Alright, speeches are over. Everyone’s dismissed you’re free until dinner.” Griselda says clapping her hands a couple of times.

“Classes start at 8 o’clock sharp, be punctual. I’ll see you all tomorrow, good luck!” With that the Headmistress and Griselda leave the fairies alone.

“Come on, let’s head to our dorm.” Damian says gesturing for Jon to follow him down a hallway.

“What's Cloud Tower?” Jon asks after they walked a fair ways down the hall.

“Cloud Tower is one of three schools in Magix, Alfea is another one obviously, and Red Fountain is the last. Cloud Tower is home of witches, they don’t let wizards in, they go to a different school. Red Fountain is home to the specialists, that’s where the two girls you met last night go.”

“Wow.”

Damian doesn’t respond to Jon, simply continues walking until they reach a pair of double doors and a sign outside with a list of names; Damian, Colin, Wallace, William, Djinn. “This is us.” Damian states as he opens the doors. They walk into a general living area with three sets of double doors around. “I’m over here,” Damian says walking into a large room, with only one bed.

“You have a room all to yourself?”

“Mother insisted. You’re over there.” Damian says pointing to the door opposite to his.

“Oh cool! I have a roommate!” Jon says, seeing that the plack on the door has two names on it. Jon wanders into his room with his suitcase in one hand, he’s so lost in wonder at the place around him he doesn’t notice the other occupant until she calls out to him.

“Hello, you must be my roommate.” Jon nearly jumps from being surprised, spinning to face the darkskinned girl.

“Uh, yeah, I’m Jo-” Jon was cut off from saying his actual name by Damian pinching his back, hard.

“This is Colin and I’m Damian.”

“Is that so?” Jon’s roommate asks, the way she was looking at the pair unsettled them, as though she was looking through their souls. “I’m Djinn.” She finally introduces, holding out her hand which Jon shakes with a smile.

“Let’s go meet our other housemates. There were five names on the door.” Jon says hurriedly, and mildly excitedly before he leaves the room. Damian and Djinn follow after him at a more sedate pace.

Two boys come into the room at that time. A fairly tall dark-skinned boy and a shorter light-blue-skinned boy. “Hey. I’m Wally.” The taller boy says waving at the group.

“I’m Billy, it’s nice to meet you all.” The shorter one says, waving excitedly.

“I’m Colin, this is Damian and this lovely lady is Djinn.” Jon introduces them all, remembering to use the fake name. “Wait, four guys and one girl, why do you have the single room, Damian?”

“Because I opted for it. If Djinn wanted it they would’ve given it to her. She decided she was okay with a male roommate.”

“She is also right here.” Djinn reminds, “But Damian is right. I have very little interest in boys and I’ve been around enough that nothing you have will surprise me, Colin. Besides, I don’t like being alone.” Djinn says with a gentle smile aimed at Jon.

“Sweet. How about after we all unpack we go and get some food?” Wally suggests, everyone nods in agreement and heads back into their rooms to finish unpacking.

~~~~~~~~

“Somehow, this is not what I expected,” Jon says as the group walks around Magix.

“What? You expected dragons, broomsticks, and witches everywhere?”

“Kinda,” Jon says, shrugging his shoulders at Damian’s incredulous look.

“Ridiculous.”

“What are you two doing?” Wally calls back to the pair. He, Billy and Djinn had walked ahead but stopped when they realized how far back the pair were.

Damian rushed himself and Jon to catch up, explaining when they were all together, “Colin simply had some questions. He’s never been outside Gotham before. Everything is a lot different.”

“I get ya, this place is a lot different from my home too,” Wally says, Djinn and Billy nodding along in agreement.

“Really? What’re your places like?” Jon asks as the group begins walking again.

“Why don’t we discuss is over food?” Djinn prompts, leading the group to a lovely little place.

“Alright!” Jon says smiling brightly.

\-----Damian POV----

“They’re all so different!” Jon says, in moderate awe. After eating and talking about their homes, the group were talking about splitting up. Damian had taken Jon aside, out of earshot for the others to talk. Jon had immediately derailed the talk Damian wanted to have.

“It’s the magical dimension, Jon,” Damian states, rolling his eyes.

“I _know_ but, music kingdoms? Places with incredibly advanced technology? Personifications of the Sun and Moon? The types of Fairies I learnt about on Earth are like Djinn. Nature fairies but, this is incredible!” Jon was excited, it’s a new world to him. To Damian, it’s like being excited about running water.

“Are you going to be like this constantly? I have to run some errands, I’d rather do them alone, but if you can’t contain yourself, I might have to bring you with me.” Damian raises an eyebrow to Jon, who is just confused.

“What errands do you have to run?”

“Errands. If you can act normal, why don’t you explore with West? Ask him more about his music if you want. Or Melody in general.”

Jon pouts, but relents, “Fine, get me a souvenir.” Damian rolls his eyes and doesn’t respond. Instead walking away from Jon as Jon walks back to the group.

\----Jon POV----

“What business does a teenager have in Magix?” Wally asks as he and Jon wander around. Damian was doing some errands he wouldn’t tell anyone about, and Djinn and Billy opted to try out an antiques place neither Jon nor Wally wanted to go to. And Jon was actually curious about Melody.

“Maybe he needs to pick something up for his parents?” Jon suggests with a shrug, he was excited to be touring around Magix, but also nervous about keeping his cover without Damian around to help.

“Something they couldn’t have gotten their hundreds of servants to get?” Wally retorts and Jon simply nods his head in agreement. “Anyways, what do you want to do?” 

“I don’t know, I kind of just want to see everything!”

“Dude you are no help at all. Do you have a phone?” Wally asks pulling out his own

“No. Why would I?”

“Really? Most parents insist on their kids having phones in case they get into trouble.”

“Like Magic Hunter trouble?” Jon asks nervously

“Well, that’s an extreme amount of trouble, but yeah. Although I wouldn’t worry about those guys, they’re really more like boogeymen at this point.”

“Really?”

“Yup. They got hunted to near extinction. Do you have any other means of contacting your folks?” Wally asks, turning their conversation back to its initial topic.

“Uh, no?” Jon replies, realizing for the first time that he is legitimately in a different realm without his mom and no way to contact her. “Oh god.”

“It’s no trouble, they have a phone shop here in Magix and my uncle gave me an emergency card in case of any monetary emergencies,” Wally says, shifting their stride to head in the right direction.

“What?! No! I mean, you shouldn’t spend your money on me and I could totally make Damian get me one, after all, he’s the one who made me come here.” Jon says

“Well 1, it’s not my money. 2, I can give him the receipt and make him transfer the appropriate funds back into the card. It’s no big deal. Also, you looked like you were about to cry when you denied having a way to contact your folks. And I do not know how to deal with a crying person.” Wally explains as they reach the phone shop, they weren’t really that far away in the first place. The pair enters and Jon marvels at the devices, they were light-years ahead of any of the phones he had seen on Earth. “Do you know how far away Gotham is?” Wally asks, looking at some of the phone specs.

“No, why?”

“Well, some of these have certain distance limit so knowing how far away your home is if your contacting home is kinda necessary, but they have a calculator over here,” Wally says, walking Jon over to a machine on the wall.

“So this is kinda like a map?” Jon asks as Wally inputs Magix as their starting point and planets pop up on the screen.

“Yeah, it calculates how far away your realm is from the place you intend to be communicating from. If your realm is where you intend to communicate to.” Wally explains, selecting Gotham as their endpoint. The calculator didn’t actually tell them the distance between Magix, but gave them a selection of phones that would be able to reach Gotham.

“Cool, could I, could I try a different dimension? Damian and I passed through it on our way here and I’m kinda just curious.” Jon explains, the lie stumbling through his lips. Wally probably knew something was up given the look he had given Jon, but there wasn’t much Jon could do about that.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll go look at the phones and try to get the best deal.” Wally says, going back to the phone displays.

“Ok.” Jon says before turning to the calculator and putting Earth as the endpoint. The list of phones given was narrowed down to three, and a pop up window showed up on the screen. 

__

_‘Due to Earth’s non-magical status, communication to the planet_  
requires our furthest reaching phones and is quite costly.  
Please take this into consideration before  
purchasing your phone!’ 

Jon swallowed and closed the window. He walked over to where the phones were displayed and easily found their furthest reaching ones. They weren’t all mind-blowingly expensive as Jon had feared they would be, but their plans certainly were.

“So, weirdly enough, this is actually the cheapest phone with an okay plan in this place. But, it also charges based on where you’re calling to. So if you call to Gotham it’ll be more expensive than if you called to Zenith.” Wally explains pointing to one of the phones Jon had been looking at, the phone itself was only two-hundred dollars or whatever the currency in Magix was, but there was a chart beneath showing the rates for calling, and they were incredibly high. Wally pointed to the phone right beside it which was over a thousand dollars. “This is one of the more expensive phones, but it doesn’t charge based on where you call. You state where the maximum area you’d be calling based on the colour chart you can access with this,” Wally double taps the area beneath the phone and it lit up like the calculator did, “Type your furthest contact area and they’ll make a plan based on it. The maximum plan is $150 a month, but with the prince paying, you could more than afford it. I can pay for the phone and the first month, but come back here with Damian to pay further.” Wally explains.

“Wow. You know a lot.” Jon says, blinking at Wally in awe.

“I asked the guys about their furthest reaching phones and they gave me this pamphlet,” Wally says handing Jon the piece of paper he had been reading off of the entire time.

“Oh.”

“I know a lot about other stuff, just not phone buying. Not like I’m ever going to work in a phone place.” Wally says with a shrug.

“How do you know?”

“I’m training to become a guardian fairy, Jon. I’m not allowed to have a job while at Alfea, and once I’m done there, I’ll be thrust into Guardian Fairy-ing, so,” Wally ends with a shrug.

“Wow. That’s so cool! What do you do as a Guardian Fairy?” Jon asks, earning a confused look from Wally before the other boy shakes his head.

“I’ll explain later. Look up Gotham on that thing and I’ll go get a salesperson.” Wally says wandering off. Jon looks up Earth on the colour chart, it was a purple, a shade called Mauve. Jon closed down the colour chart and went off to find Wally. Jon came up to him when he was talking with a salesman. 

The worker was listing off things Wally had already told him before asking, “What was the shade the phone’ll be used to?”

“Mauve,” Jon answers, fiddling with his sleeve, nervous as to how the salesman would react.

“Mauve. Okay, anywhere in particular in that shade you’ll be calling often or just the area in general?” The Salesman didn’t really react or seem to care beyond specifying.

“Just the area in general,” Jon says, worried about what might be the reaction if he had said Earth.

“Alright, at the time of purchase your monthly plan will be $115, with 3 gigs of Data. Wallace has set up your provider, _Hikom_. When you come back with your other friend you’ll be able to try and negotiate your plan if you so wish. Hikom specializes in long distance calling and texting so they’re cheaper than most would be.” The salesman says. Once both boys express their understanding of what had been said the man brings out a machine for Wally to pay on and gives Jon a box, most likely with his phone in it. “Your number’s inside.” The man says after Wally finishes paying. Jon nods and the two leave the shop.

“Soo, who you calling in the Mauve sector?” Wally says as Jon puts the box in his bag, he’ll fiddle with it later.

“What do you mean?” Jon asks in response. However, before Wally could answer a blast of ice almost hits them. 

“You missed!” A young male voice calls out. Jon and Wally look up to see three people before them. A young girl with snow white hair, frosty eyes and blue lips, her face and hands looked frostbitten but they didn’t move as such. A young bald boy, who looked like he could’ve been from Earth, and another young boy, with bright green hair, painted white skin and painted red lips. 

“Well you hit them then!” The girl responds, glaring at the bald boy.

The boy rolls his eyes before responding, “These aren’t even our true quarry. Where’s the Prince?” The boy demands.

“What prince?” Wally asks, glaring at the trio.

“Don’t play stupid.” The bald boy says, standing in front of the pair, but they hear him finishing his thought from behind them. “It’ll get you nowhere.” Jon and Wally jump apart and look to see an exact replica of the bald boy behind where the pair formerly were. 

“You can clone yourself. Learn that at cloud tower?” Wally asks, not looking the least bit phazed. Unlike Jon whose freak out was all over his face.

“Personal talent. Did you learn not to fight back at Alfea?” The kid sneers before being blasted forwards.

“Lessons start at 8 am tomorrow for Alfea. So, we haven’t learned anything.” Billy says, appearing behind the trio with Djinn right beside him.

“Please stop tormenting our friends. We do not wish to hurt you, but if you continue to do so, we will.” Djinn says, threat clear even if her tone had not changed from kind.

The bald boy sneered again and looked at the group. “JJ, Princess.” He stated with light inflections in his tone, giving no apparent directions, yet the other two seemed to know exactly what to do. Princess attacked Wally and Jon again, managing to hit Jon this time. JJ and the bald kid attacked Billy and Djinn; Djinn remained unscathed but Billy was less fortunate. “Now tell us where the prince is!” The boy demanded.

“You never learn Luthor. Even if you take on your pathetic ancestors' name, you are still a weak mockery of power.” Damian’s voice rings out. He stood right beside Jon and Wally, who had rushed over to help Jon up, with a staff that was not is sun sceptre beside him. 

“Says the princeling whose fourth in line for Guardian fairy.” Luthor retorts.

“ Tt, a philistine such as yourself attempting to insult me with something so trivial? I’m first in line for the throne of Solaria, I am the being that united the sun and moon kingdoms. Why would I care about being the Guardian fairy? Speaking of, you are incorrect in your presumption. First off, I am not even in the running for Guardian Fairy of Gotham as that is Gordon’s legacy. And a Villein such as yourself wouldn’t even begin to understand if I explained Solaria’s guardianship. “ Damian says, walking toward the trio.

“Yet you won’t even fight us with magic,” Luthor says as both Princess and JJ send attacks toward Damian. Jon couldn’t even begin to shout before Damian sends the attacks right back at the pair.

“You’re not worth it. You know it too. That’s why you opted to be a knock off of Lex Luthor but refused to take his first name, _Rex_. You just made a mockery of him. Now take your friends and get out of my sight.” Damian sneers before swiftly turning around and walking over to Jon.

“It’s not worth it Rex. We’ll get him later.” JJ says, getting up.

“We’re horribly outnumbered,” Princess adds.

“Very well,” Rex says and the trio disappears.

“Who were those kids?” Billy asks as he and Djinn rush over to Jon, Damian and Wally.

“They’re witches of cloudtower. That ogre I fought on my way to Alfea worked for them.” Damian explains.

“How’d they know we were here?”

“I thought you said only girls go to Cloud Tower.” Jon inputs after Wally asked his question.

“Cloud Tower is expanding its student reach. First-year doing so and they didn’t exactly advertise it. And it was the ogre. I sensed the ogre earlier so I took off to follow him. I followed him around for a while before he saw you and Wally and contacted the witches who were also already here. I was taking care of the ogre, making sure it wouldn’t bother us ever again when they attacked you.” Damian explains, collapsing his staff and stuffing it into his jacket.

“So this does not have anything to do with Colin being an earthling, and lying about his name?” Djinn asks looking at Damian curiously.

“What?” 

“Damn, dude. I knew you were hiding something but I didn’t think it was that extreme.” Wally says looking down at Jon.

“I shall explain everything once we are back at Alfea. Granted we aren’t kicked out for missing curfew.” Damian says, turning and walking toward the bus stop.

The others hurry to catch up before Wally says, “We still have fifteen minutes.”

“It’ll take us five minutes to get to the bus stop, the bus’ll take three minutes to get there and a minute to board and depart, and it’s a ten minute journey back to Alfea.”

“So we’ll miss curfew by four minutes. Think they’ll forgive us for that?” Jon asks.

“I don’t know, Griselda seemed pretty strict,” Billy says, wincing at the thought of dealing with her.

“Hey what is your real name?” Wally asks suddenly.

“Huh? Oh, it’s Jon. Well my name is Jonathan but everyone calls me Jon.”

“Nice to actually meet you. Hey, if we get kicked out you can still call us on your new phone.” Wally says, attempting to bring the mood up a little.

“We will not be kicked out,” Djinn says, which seemed to end all conversation.

~~~~~~~~

The five were sneaking back into Alfea when someone cleared their throat behind them.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Griselda asks, causing all of them to turn around and face her as well as the headmistress.

“We were just going back to our rooms?” Wally says although the lit at the end made it sound more like a question. It was clear from Griselda’s intense glare that that was not the answer she was looking for.

“We will discuss this tomorrow. Please go back to your rooms.” Faragonda says, waving them away.

“Ah! Not so fast!” Griselda calls, stopping them all once more, “Mr Wilkes, is there something you’ve forgotten to tell us?”

Jon hesitates for a moment before deflating and saying “My name isn’t Colin Wilkes, its Jon Lane.”

“Why would you lie to us about your name dear?” Faragonda asks kindly, but Damian steps in before Jon can answer.

“It was my idea. Colin wasn’t coming, Jon wasn’t on the list, seemed the best solution at the time.” Damian states tersely, head held high.

“How could you be so sure Jon wasn’t on the list? Or going to any other Fairy school?”

“Because I’m from Earth. A city called Metropolis.” Jon admits quietly, fiddling with his sleeves.

“An Earthling? Impossible!” Griselda exclaims.

“But he must be a magical creature, Griselda, otherwise the barrier would’ve kept him out.” Faragonda reminds, and then dismisses the students, “Go to bed young ones, we will discuss this tomorrow.”

~~~~~~~~

“Hey, where’s Damian?” Jon asks the next morning when everyone was getting ready for classes.

“Damian went to see the headmistress bright and early this morning.” Djinn supplies as she exits her and Jon’s room, the latter having left so she could get dressed.

“Why?” Wally asks, stopping in his rush to get ready.

“I don’t know,” Djinn says with a shrug as Jon goes into their room to get properly dressed for the day.

\----Damian POV----

In the headmistress’s office, Damian was sitting across from Faragonda. Faragonda’s computer was on and the screen was facing Damian, a dark,shadowy figure was on screen.

“You found him on Earth while hunting the ogre?” Faragonda asks, raising an eyebrow at the young man.

“Yes. He assisted me in locating precisely where the ogre went and then exhibited latent magical prowess in defending himself when the ogre attacked him.”

“Who’re his parents?” The shadowy figure asks gruffly.

“His mother is a woman named Lois Lane, she is a reporter on Earth. However, she has no recollection of Jon’s father. She claims she does not remember any man in her life when Jon was conceived.” Damian reports.

“Hmm, most likely a Wizard, some can influence another’s memories.” 

“Jon hasn’t a speck of darkness in him, father.”

“Everyone has darkness, Damian, you just can’t sense it because you haven’t been trained properly.” Bruce says, still dark, still shadowy. Damian clenches his jaw but says nothing in response. 

“Be that as it may, Jon does fit in here. Besides, he is under supervision, so if he does become a Wizard or Witch, we can send him to the proper school. However, because he hasn’t presented yet, and his friends are here, he will stay here.” Faragonda says.

“That is your call headmistress. However, Damian, you not only lied to Faragonda but also disobeyed me.” Bruce says, looking down at his youngest son.

“He also stayed out past curfew,” Faragonda adds lightly.

“Three weeks.” Is all Bruce says before the computer turns off. Neither Damian nor Faragonda speak for a while until Damian breaks the silence.

“Three-week suspension or detention?”

“Neither.” Faragonda says simply, causing Damian to tense, expecting some other punishment, “You will have detention for three days. I am not angry with you Damian. You did what you felt was necessary to help your friend. From what I have been told it is rare for you to develop such relationships with others, and to do so so quickly, enough to put yourself on the line for your friend is admirable. Of course, you did still stay out past curfew.” Faragonda explains and Damian simply nods before asking.

“Will anyone else be punished? We were attacked in Magix because of me.”

Faragonda smiles and shakes her head, “No. You’ve made it clear that without waiting on you to come out of that fight okay, the others would’ve made it back before curfew. Report here after school and I’ll instruct you where to go for detention, now off to class Damian.” Damian nods and leaves Faragonda’s office.

~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Damian!” Jon calls clamouring close to Damian during breakfast later that morning, “How was your meeting with Faragonda?” Jon asks as they sit down.

“Alright. I will be serving detention for three days, but you are free to stay here in Alfea.” Damian says before digging into his food.

“You got in trouble for helping me?”

“No, I got into trouble for causing us to stay out past curfew.” Damian corrects.

“Does that mean the rest of us have to serve detention too?” Billy asks, almost pouting.

“No. It was entirely my fault we were out past curfew, so the punishment is mine alone to bear.” Damian says.

“But it wasn’t. We all lost track of time.” Djinn inputs. 

“We were late because we got attacked. We got attacked because of me.”

“Technically we got attacked because the ogre recognized Jon.” Wally inputs.

“The ogre only met Jon because I failed to defeat him before he could escape to Earth. And he was only in a place to recognize Jon because I failed to defeat him again on Earth.”

“You will really find a way for it to be your fault no matter what we say” Billy states.

“Because it is.” Damian says before standing up, taking his empty tray to the stack it was supposed to go on, before returning to their group, “Let’s not be late for class as well.” He states before heading off to Wizgiz’s class.

“He’s right we should head there if we want to make it on time,” Wally says causing everyone to get up, put their dirty dishes away and follow Damian.

“So what do we do in this class?” Jon asks, sitting down on beside Damian, Wally and Billy sat down beside Jon while Djinn sat on Damian’s other side.

“Wizgiz teaches Metamorphosymbiosis. We’ll be learning how to alter ourselves to some extent.” Damian answers

“We can do that?” Jon asks, shocked and amazed.

“Not yet you can’t!” A voice pipes up before anything more could be said. Wizgiz hops up from behind his desk onto his desk. “You’re still learning, but someday, you may be able to do this!” With the final word, Wizgiz turns himself into a mouse. “But for today, you’ll be trying to change your hair colour. “Wizgiz transforms back into his leprechaun self, and starts teaching. For most students changing their hair colour at least a little bit was easy, Damian had gone from black to blonde hair pretty quickly, but most of the others stuck with going to a similar colour from their natural hair. But Jon was having no luck.

“You make it look so easy.” He complains.

“I make everything look easy.” Damian dismisses, turning his hair colour back to normal. His mother had trained him well enough that he didn’t need to be in the introductory classes with his roommates, but father insisted it would help him make friends. Also, Colin was initially going to be with him, so, Damian was willing to sit through boredom with him. 

“Don't be down Jon, you haven’t even presented. Just do your best.” Wally advises, his hair bright red. Jon nods and keeps trying but the rest of the class goes about the same. With Jon failing every attempt. The rest of the day is the same. By the time they make it back to their room, Jon is morose and really down.

\-----Jon POV----

“It’s not the end of the world man,” Wally says while Jon mopes. Damian was off serving detention while the rest of them were back at their rooms.

“I’m surrounded by magic and can’t do any of it!” Jon whines, flopping onto the beanbag in the common room.

“When I was first learning, I could barely do anything. Alfea tends to presume you’ve had some pre-training before attending. Training in channelling your energy in magic.” Wally tries to comfort, but Jon doesn’t find it that comforting. It means he’s behind already.

“Isn’t that actually a requirement?” Billy asks.

“Yes. But it is easily learned.” Djinn states, sitting down in a chair by Jon. “Just focus on your emotions, on the energy they bring you,” Djinn instructs and Jon shuts his eyes to follow, “Do you feel the energy coursing through you?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Now, think of a color. And imagine your hair turning it, the color growing from your roots until in encompasses your whole head.” Djinn instructs and Jon tries, he does, his hair even moves! But ultimately he fails.

“Uggh! It’s hopeless.” Jon grumbles, sinking deeper into the bean bag.

“It’s not hopeless. It is merely difficult. Perhaps you’re simply bad at personal magic.” Djinn suggests.

“What?”

“Yeah, what's personal magic?” Wally echoes Jon, also confused.

“Magic you use on yourself. Hair color changing spells, hair length spells, shapeshifting spells. You use those on yourself to change an aspect of yourself. Personal magic. Some people are bad at it but good at all other forms of magic. It’s just your natural skills. You can become good at personal magic through drive and hard work.” Djinn explains.

“Huh, never heard it called that before.”

Djinn shrugs, “Different places will have different names for it.” Djinn stands up, “Let’s continue working on this in our room.” Djinn leads them into their room.

“I don’t think trying repeatedly is going to help much.” Jon was already feeling defeated from the amount he’s tried.

“We’re not going to try again. We’re going to work on channeling your energy.” Djinn states, grabbing some pillows and putting them on the floor, “We’re going to meditate. Sit.” Jon does as he’s told, and Djinn starts helping him with meditation.


	2. The Welcome Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We follow the group as they prepare for the Annual welcome ball between Alfea and Red Fountain.

Damian had woken them all up a bit too early so they wouldn’t be late for breakfast. Given how Griselda glared at a couple of girls who were late, they should probably be thankful. But, they were too tired to really care.

When everyone was seated, Griselda called attention to her. “Quiet! Your headmistress has something she’d like to say.”

Faragonda stands up, smiling, “Thank you, Griselda. Now, tonight we will be having our Annual Welcome Gala. We will be inviting the Specialist from Red Fountain, and have a gift exchange. Classes today are cancelled, as you will all be helping to prepare for this Gala.”

“It’s the second day of school though,” Jon says, looking over at Damian, who just shrugs.

“And yet classes are cancelled.” Wally smiles, “Be happy. We just have to decorate.”

“Wait!” A girl none of the group recognized calls, coming over to them, “You’re from Melody, right?”

“Yeah?” Wally’s tone was full of apprehension, and slight confusion.

“Could you play music at the Gala? Or set some tunes to play?”

“Uh, sure, I can try.”

“Yay! Thank you!” And just like that, the girl was gone.

“Okay, you all have to decorate, I have to go make a playlist.” With that, Wally leaves the mess hall.

“We also have to find something to wear,” Billy adds.

“ _You_ have to find something to wear, I have a closet full of stuff to wear.” Damian says, picking at his food. He wasn’t really hungry anymore. “Come on Jon, let’s see if we can find you something to wear.” Damian pulls Jon up and drags him back to their dorm.

\---Jon POV---

“I take it my normal clothes won’t work?” Jon asks as Damian goes through his closet. The chances of finding anything were relatively slim as Jon was taller than Damian, but, there was still a chance.

“It’s a formal event. So, we must be in formal wear. Unless you’re a specialist, then you wear your school uniform. Since that count as formal wear, I suppose.” Damian explains, closing his closet. “And, we’re going to have to go shopping for you.” 

“Aren’t we supposed to be decorating?” Jon asks, following Damian out of the bedroom.

Damian shrugs, “It’s eight am. The ball won’t be until eight pm at the earliest. We have time, besides, we’re scheduled to decorate from 1pm to 5pm. Djinn and Billy made a schedule on who’s doing what when, and made sure to give everyone ample time to get ready. We’re the last on the schedule and will be putting the finishing touches on everything.” Damian explains as he leads them out of the door and down the stairs.

“Oh, okay.”

“Princling!” Damian does that face where he’s groaning on the inside but he’s too proper to actually make the sound audible. Jon thinks it’s funny. After turning his face back to normal, Damian turns to look at the newcomer. A tan girl with brown hair pulled back into pigtails.

“What do you want, Amazon?”

“A) we’re awesome, so shut up, and B) Are you two going shopping?”

“Yeah, you wanna come?” Jon asks, ignoring Damian’s look of death.

“Totally! I need a dress.” She hooks her arms around Damian and Jon’s arms, placing herself between the two boys and making them walk forward again.

“Don’t you have a million of them?” Damian asks somewhat sharply, clearly not pleased with their new addition.

“Don’t _you_ have a million fancy schmancy clothes?” Ms Amazon retorts. Jon should really find out her name, because he’s 90% sure it’s not ‘Amazon’. Given her reaction to Damian calling her it.

“We’re going shopping for Jon.”

“Right, the Earthling.”

“Hey! I’m right here.” Jon protests, he has a name! And ‘Earthling’ makes him feel like he’s surrounded by aliens.

… 

Oh wait. 

Jon comes to a halt, causing Damian and Ms Amazon to stop as well and look back at him.

“Everything okay Jon?”

“You’re aliens.” 

Damian and Ms Amazon share a look and they both shrug, “Technically?” Ms. Amazon says.

“We’re all from different Realms, so yes, Aliens would apply. But that also makes _you_ alien to _us_.”

“Don’t hurt his brain, Princeling.”

Damian snorts and rolls his eyes, “A tad late for that Amazon.” And Jon had to admit that he had a point, Jon was freaking out slightly. He was _surrounded_ by aliens. _He_ was an alien.

What the Frick-frackety heck?

Jon was shaken, literally, out of the beginnings of a spiral by Damian. “Stop thinking about it. You’re a fairy. You’re magic. Life is weird now, accept it..”

Ms. Amazon snorts, “Nice.”

“Shut up.”

“Uh, let’s go shopping.” Jon cuts in before they could argue. Damian and this girl seem to butt heads a lot. Damian rolls his eyes but grabs Jon’s hand and starts leading them out of the school. Ms Amazon stays beside Jon, but doesn’t make further conversation, something Jon is happy for. He’s not really in the mood to talk at the moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the bus ride over, Jon’s mood betters. Maybe it’s seeing all the magic around them, maybe it’s just time, but either way, Jon feels better. Even if being alien is still messing him up a bit. Jon turns to Ms. Amazon who is sitting beside him, Damian is standing and doing something on his phone.

“So, what’s your name? I assume it’s not Amazon?”

Ms Amazon laughs wryly before answering, “Georgia Bakshi. My people are called Amazons, hence Damian’s nickname.”

“And ‘Princeling’?” Because Jon had never heard anyone call Damian that. Granted he’s known Damian less than a week, but even the people Jon doesn’t know treat Damian with some level of respect.

“Damian and I have known eachother for a few years. I was training under Diana before coming to Alfea, I intend to be a Guardian Fairy. Diana is friends with Damian’s dad, so I met him then. And he was a spoiled brat, I wanted to pop his head off within our first meeting.”

“That’s-” Georgia cuts Jon off before he could say anything.

“Extreme I know. I was ten and he was being a jerk. We dealt with each other a few more times and developed a tense relationship mostly consisting of calling each other names and teasing. We’re not really friends. More, frenemies.” Georgia shrugs, as if she didn’t really care. She probably didn’t.

“Huh. That’s, interesting.”

Georgia laughs, “That’s one word for it. So, any idea what type of formal wear you want?”

Jon scrunches up his face, “A suit I guess? What other formal wear could I wear?”

Georgia raises an eyebrow, “A dress?”

“But I’m a boy. Dresses are for girls.” Georgia gives him a ‘are you stupid?’ look, and Jon feels really sheepish. “That’s what the kids at my old school said.”

Georgia rolls her eyes,“ They’re stupid. You haven’t transformed yet, have you?” 

Jon shakes his head, “Damian has shorts though.”

Georgia shrugs, “That’s Damian. Most Fairy transformations fall into four categories, for their first transformation at least. Bodysuits, Dresses, top and shorts, and, top and skirt. So when you transform for the first time, you have a 50% chance of having a skirt. ”

“First transformation?” 

“There are three transformations a Fairy can achieve.”

“There are three that _any_ fairy can achieve.” Damian corrects, cutting into the conversation.

“What does that mean?” Jon asks while Georgia just rolls her eyes.

“There are three main transformations; Basix, Charmix, and Enchantix. After you achieve Enchantix then there are numerous other transformations you can achieve.” Damian explains, “I can give you a book on transformations back at Alfea.”

“Cool!” Jon was excited, that book would be really interesting, he was sure.

\----Damian POV----

“So, you just wanted to watch Jon play dress up?” Damian asks, not facing Georgia on the couch while they wait for Jon to come out of the changing room. Georgia had already ordered a dress, and was only in Magix to pick it up. But she was sticking around Damian and Jon still.

“Well, he needs more than your opinion, Princeling. After all, we wouldn’t want him looking like you.”

“What’s wrong with how I look?” Georgia doesn’t have a chance to respond as Jon comes out of the changing room, looking, not his best. It was a two piece, with a red short sleeved shirt that had a sheer cape of the same colour coming out of it, attached to the top by the sleeves. The pants were also red.

“No.”

“Absolutely not.”

Jon whined a bit, looking down, “I like it.”

Damian almost sighs, but doesn’t, “What do you like about it?”

“Uh, the cape,” Jon grabs the red translucent fabric, “And I like how it’s attached to the top.”

“Are you married to the colours?” Georgia asks.

“That much red doesn’t look good on you. Maybe keep the cape red?”

“What colour should the rest of it be? Also, that top is awful.”

“Yeah, change out of it.” Jon was visibly confused but returns to the dressing room. Damian turns to Georgia, “Maybe blue?”

Georgia nods, “Blue would work,” and waves down an attendant, to get something similar but in blue. The attendant nods and heads off. She was back shortly, handing the outfit to Jon in the changing room. Jon comes out a couple minutes later, now in a [mostly blue outfit](https://mobile.twitter.com/HappiestDeath/status/1342601179931398145). There were three different shades of blue, two shades on the top and two shades on the bottom, with one shade being repeated. The pants were a high-waisted button up, the shirt was a tank top with diagonal stripes. There was also a red cape, attached at the shoulders and a red choker.

“How do you feel about the choker?”

Jon pulls on it, “I don’t hate it. Never thought I’d be wearing one though.”

“I think the outfit looks great.”

“Mmhm, blue suits you Earthling.”

“So we’re getting this? I don’t see a price tag.” Jon looks around his body, trying to find a price tag. There wouldn’t be one. 

“Yup, change out of it, I’ll pay.” Damian orders, standing up.

“No, you-”

“Change, Kent.” Damian’s tone left no room for argument. Jon, wisely, listened and returned to the changing room. Damian went to the attendant to pay for the outfit, they could magically tailor the outfit to fit back at Alfea. When Damian returned, Jon was talking to Georgia happily, a bag from the store by Jon’s side.

Georgia notices Damian nearly immediately, “Hey, we all good?”

“Yes. Do either of you have any further business here or shall we return to Alfea?”

“I got nothing. Jon?”

“What business would I have?”

Fair point. Damian shrugs and leads the trio out of the store and back to the bus stop. It was coming up on their decorating time.

~~~~~~~~

“So, are you excited?” Wally asks, the decorations were done and they were all getting ready. Decidedly in Damian’s room for a reason they did not disclose to Damian. Djinn had stolen his rather large closet to change but was now lounging on Damian’s bed as the boys were finishing up.

“More nervous. I mean, first party at a new school.” Jon shrugs, adjusting the choker and cape, most likely out of nervousness.

“It’ll be great, you can hang with us all night if you don’t want to talk to the Red Fountain kids.” Wally tries to comfort. Jon nods, still clearly nervous. “And you also look awesome.”

“Thanks.” Jon flashes Wally a smile and sits down on Damian’s rectangular ottoman.

“Uh, guys, we better head down now. It’s going to start soon.” Billy interjects. Djinn gets up, and follows Wally and Billy out of the room. Damian starts to follow but stops when he notices Jon not moving. Djinn stops in the doorway.

“Damian? Jon?”

“We’ll catch up.” Damian says, Djinn nods and leaves the room, shutting the door behind her. Damian sits down next to Jon on the ottoman. It’s not that big, and they’re a little squished, but they both fit. The pair sit in silence for a couple of minutes until Jon breaks it.

“You can go to the party.”

“No, I can’t.” Damian immediately refutes, “You’re in my room. I don’t leave people unattended in my room.”

Jon scoffs, “I’ll go to my room.”

“No.” Damian refutes again, then sighs, “Why don’t you want to go downstairs?”

“I-” Jon shakes his head, “It’s stupid.”

“If it’s causing you emotional distress, it’s not stupid.” At least, that’s what Richard tells Damian. He’s not too sure he believes his brother.

“Any time I’d go to a school party back in Metropolis, my mom would always be there. Helping me get ready, taking pictures and teasing me. This just, I miss my mom.” Jon shrugs.

“West gave you a phone. Why don’t you use it?” Wallace also billed it to Damian so, Jon might as well _use_ it.

“I’m scared. What if she doesn’t miss me as much as I miss her? What if I bother her?”

Damian nearly groans, he doesn’t, because that wouldn’t be beneficial to this situation, but it was a close thing. He is not the best person for this. He’s pretty sure his mom didn’t even miss him when he lived in Gotham for 3 years, and he doubts either of his parents miss him right now. But, Jon’s family was different. Damian stands up and holds a hand out to Jon. “Let’s go see your mother.” Jon reluctantly takes Damian’s hand and stands up as well. Damian summons his sceptre and transports them to Jon’s apartment.

“I really need to learn that.”

“It’s an ability the Sun Sceptre gives me, it can log locations and transport me to them, but it costs me quite a bit of magical energy.” Damian explains, returning the sun sceptre back to it’s ring form.

“Cool.” 

“Jon?” Lois calls, and then gasps and engulfs Jon in a hug. Jon happily returns the hug. Damian moves off to the side, leaning against the wall. When the pair surface from the hug, which lasted three minutes, Lois has clearly wet eyes, and she noticed Damian. “Damian, it’s nice to see you too.”

“You too, I don’t hug.” Lois nods and wipes her eyes.

“Damian brought me here. Alfea is having a party tonight.” Jon explains.

Lois nods, “Ah, that, explains the outfits. You look wonderful,” Lois gasps, “I have to get the camera.” Lois rushes off, presumably to retrieve her camera.

“You don’t hug?” Jon asks.

“No. My family is not big on physical affection.” His _parents_ weren’t. Richard would use any and every excuse to hug Damian. Up until Damian would forcibly remove himself from the hug.

“Oh.”

Lois comes rushing into the room before Damian could figure out whether Jon sounded sad or understanding. “Okay, scoot together.” Before Damian could ask what Lois meant by that, Jon was pulling Damian closer to him, not touching, but standing next to each other. Lois snaps a few pictures of them both before setting the Camera down on a nearby table and asking, “So, how’s everything going? I know, it’s only been a few days, but, is everything okay?”

“It’s okay. Yesterday was the first day of classes, I didn’t do too well. But my roommate has been helping me get better with magic. I just, we’d always hang out together before school dances.” Lois hugs Jon again, softer this time.

“I missed you too Jon. But you should go to the dance now, we can talk later.”

Jon pulls from the hug, “Oh! We can. I got a phone now. I can call you after school!”

“How did you get a phone?” Lois asks, confused.

“I bought it for him.” Damian interjects. Technically he did, since he repaid Wallace for buying Jon the phone in the first place. Well, Wallace gave him the bill.

“Oh. Well, let me pay you back-”

“Uh no. There’s no need. Also, I don’t know how to convert magix currency to Earth’s currency.” Damian states, and pulls off his ring, transforming it into the Sun Sceptre. “Also, you are correct that we’ll miss the party if we dally much longer.”

“See you soon mom!” Jon says, moving over to Damian, Lois waves to them as the teleport back to their dorm. Once they’re back in Damian’s room, Damian transforms the Sceptre back to a ring and puts it in a box on his desk. Jon furrows his brows, “Shouldn’t you keep it on you?”

“I used a lot of magical energy, while the Sceptre can help me gain energy, it can also drain me when it’s low on energy. I don’t wish to be drained further. Now, can we go to the party?”

“You go. I’ll meet up with you in a few minutes, I just want to go for a short walk.” Jon states, leaving Damian’s room. Damian sighs but leaves his room as well. If Jon wants to waste time walking around Alfea, he can do so. Damian heads down to the ball. 

“Where’s Jon?” Djinn asks upon Damian’s arrival.

“He wanted to go for a walk. He’ll be by later.”

“If you’re sure.” Damian nods decisively. 

“Want to dance?”

“That would be acceptable.” Djinn states, letting Damian lead her to the dance floor and lead her in a dance. 

“So, who do you actually want to dance with?” Damian asks after a minute. 

“Is it that obvious?” 

Damian thought so, but it might not be to an average person. “I’m observant. Who do you want to dance with?”

“Xiomara Rojas.” Djinn answers, looking over to the pale specialist

 _”Crush?”_

“Is that a nickname?”

Oh, right. Not everyone has the same history. “Yes. It was her preferred name when we met. I still address her as such but I do not know if she has a different preference now. She’s standing with Emiko, so, we could go talk with them, if you want?”

“That would be nice.” Damian nods once and breaks their dance, now leading Djinn over to the pair of specialists.

“Emiko, Crush.” Damian nods to the two girls.

“Twinkle toes.” Emiko greets, Damian rolls his eyes,”Who’s this?”

“I’m Djinn, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

“Pleasure’s ours.” Crush states, clearly uncomfortable at the formality.

“I was just talking to Djinn about nicknames, how we get them and such. Could you remind me how you got the nickname Crush?” Damian lies smoothly. To his knowledge there wasn’t really a story, more Crush crushes stuff so she’s called Crush. Riveting.

But it got Crush talking. And as she talks the looser she became, and the more fun she seemed to be having. Djinn seemed captivated by Crush, hanging on her every word.

Emiko wasn’t. She interrupted Crush by clearing her throat, “I’m going to steal Damian for a bit, we’ll catch up with you later.” Emiko doesn’t wait for a response, just grabs Damian’s hand and pulls him away from the pair.

“They like eachother.” Damian comments once Emiko stopped moving them. He wasn’t nearly as interested in Crush as Djinn apparently was.

“That’s for certain. I felt like I was third wheeling a date.” Emiko bemoans.

Before Damian could respond Jon came rushing up to him. “Damian, somethings wrong. Where is everyone?”

“Scattered about. Why?”

“The evil witches we saw in Magix cursed the specialist’s presents. They said snakerats?” Jon was clearly confused.

“Emiko, go get Djinn, tell her to get our dormmates and meet us right outside the hall. If your people bring out the presents, delay them.” Damian orders, Emiko nods and shoots off in the direction of Djinn and Crush. Damian pulls Jon by the hand until they were in the hallway right outside the school hall.

“There’s something else. This is all a distraction so they can get your ring.” Jon informs.

Damian nods, “I’ll deal with that later. Snakerats first.”

“There are snakerats?” Billy asks, sounding somewhat scared. Damian turns to see him and Wallace.

“We saw you rush off here, and got concerned. What are snakerats?”

“Venomous swamp creatures. They’re not friendly.” Billy informs.

“Then we must not let them be free.” Djinn interjects, finally arriving at the group.

“Yes. Make a circle. We’ll need a counterspell.” Damian held his hands out and his dormmates all joined hands. “Repeat after me, ‘What it once was let it be again’.” They all start chanting. Soon enough their counterspell works, and when the eggs are opened, snakerats don’t make an appearance. 

Crush and Emiko return to the group, each with an egg. “Your spell worked.” Emiko states, handing her egg over to Damian. He opens it and butterflies fly out. 

“How childish.”

“What are you doing?” Crush asks, drawing attention to her and Djinn. Crush had given Djinn her egg and Djinn was doing something to it.

“Giving our witch friends a little present. They deserve something for their hard work.” Djinn answers cryptically.

“Okay?”

“Damian, be a dear and make sure the witches get that?” Djinn asks, handing over the egg. Damian accepts it and nods. “Ms Rojas, would you like to dance?” Crush _blushes_ and accepts.

“What are you going to do with the egg?” Jon asks as Crush and Djinn depart.

“Don’t worry about it, go have fun. It’s a party.” Emiko, Wallace and Billy take Damian’s dismissal as it is and head back into the celebration hall, chatting with eachother. Jon remains with Damian though. “What’s wrong?”

Jon shrugs, “I don’t know, I just don’t feel great.”

“Let’s go for a walk.” Damian magics the egg away, switching it with his ring and pocketing the ring rather than putting it on. Jon doesn’t appear to notice, looking forward as the pair walk off. “Is it about your mother?” Damian asks once they had been walking for a while.

“No. I just, I feel like I don’t belong here. I can’t do magic. I can’t transform. Maybe, maybe that day in the park was a fluke.” Jon sighs.

Damian rolls his eyes, “Jon, you _have_ magic. Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to be here.”

“The specialists are here, do _they_ have magic?”

“Yes. But they don’t have fairy magic. _You_ do. I know what fairy magic feels like Jon, and that’s what I felt from you in the park that day. And I know you haven’t known me very long, but do I seem like the kind of person who would do something without being 100% confident I was right?”

“No…” Jon was visibly confused, probably at the weird turn.

“Then why are you insinuating I was wrong for bringing you here?” Jon sighs, “Look. It just takes time. You’re fourteen. Most people in our grade here at Alfea are sixteen.”

“I’m twelve.” Jon corrects.

“...What.” That. That makes sense. Damian sighs, “Of _course_ it’s taking longer. Magic tends to not make an appearance until you’re a teenager at least.”

“So, it was a fluke?”

Damian shakes his head, “No. Jon you’ve _used_ magic since you got here, you just aren’t aware of it.”

Jon furrows his brows, “What do you mean?”

“You turn the lights on in our dorm. You make your bed. You summon books. Jon, you’re doing simple magic everyday. Just, be patient, you’ll get to the more advanced stuff.” Damian sighs when his phone buzzes. He does not need this interruption! But he checks his phone and sighs again. “Billy is a terrible liar and Faragonda is looking for me. I’ll let you think on this, but, you belong here Jon.” Damian pats Jon on the shoulder a couple times before turning around and rushing back to the hall.

When Damian arrives, he rushes over to Faragonda. “Ah, Damian, thank you for joining us.” Faragonda greets.

“Apologies for being late, Jon is a bit nervous, he’s not adjusting well. He’s getting some fresh air.”

“Of course. Of course. However, right now, we must present our gifts for the specialists. Come along.” Faragonda leads Damian to the other fairies, Damian finds Billy and Wally quite easily.

“Uh, bad news.” Wally mutters, “Jon is fighting the witches and we can’t help him.”

“What?” Damian hisses.

“Faragonda stopped us from leaving.” Billy explains. She would. And she definitely wouldn’t let them leave right now. If they told her- well, actually.

“Ms Faragonda!” Damian calls getting her attention, along with a few others. “There are witches from Cloud Tower attacking our friend outside.” Faragonda looked vexed and concerned.

“Are you serious dude?” Wally hisses.

“Telling a teacher is always smart. And Jon’s in danger.” Damian hisses back and then speaks up, “May we go help our friend?” 

Faragonda nods, “Griselda! Go with them. Keep them safe, I’ll report this to Griffin.” Faragonda sounded so disappointed with those last few words. Damian didn’t really care, he rushed off with his dormmates and Ms Griselda. Hopefully, they could get to Jon before he got too injured.

When they arrive on the scene Jon was transformed and in the air. Damian’s dormmates immediately transform and try to enter the fray but Ms Griselda stops them. “I’ll handle this. You three!” Griselda calls walking over to the trio, the three witches hesitate before trying to attack Griselda. But the teacher easily deflects. “Go back to your own school. You were not invited and you are not permitted to be on Alfea grounds. You’re lucky I don’t send you all to detention _here_. Faragonda is reporting your trespassing and attack to your Headmistress.” Griselda keeps scolding the trio, really laying into them. But Damian is distracted by Jon flying over to them.

“They have your ring, Damian.” Jon says, dejected.

“It’s fine Jon.” Damian dismisses. They had the ring _case_. Not his ring. “You transformed.”

Jon was immediately excited, “Yeah! Isn’t it cool? Although I have one question,” Jon pulls up his leg, holding his ankle, “Why heels?”

Wally chuckles, “Who knows man. But it’s pretty rare to get flats. At least we can fly.” 

Jon nods and then confusion overtakes his face and he floats to the ground. “Why do I feel weird?” Right as Jon finishes his question, he detransforms. “What?”

“Low on energy most likely. Don’t worry. The more you use your magic, the longer you’ll be able to stay transformed and the shorter your recovery period will be.” Damian explains.

“Oh.”

“Hey, the witches are leaving.” Billy notes, detransforming himself, Djinn and Wally following suit. The witches disappeared, clearly annoyed at being lectured. Griselda starts making her way back to the group.

“Alright, back to the party.” Griselda ushers them back inside. 

Inside, the party was in full swing, people were dancing and having fun. Djinn and Crush had gotten together again, dancing their hearts out. Wally was playing music, Billy was off chatting with some specialists. Jon remained a wallflower. Damian excused himself from his discussion with Emiko to go see Jon.

“Don’t like the party?” Damian asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No, it’s great.” Jon shrugs. “After everything it’s just a little…” Jon trails off.

“Anticlimactic?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s nice to have a calm end to an exciting night Jon. In a few years, you might be missing anticlimactic endings like this.” Jon shrugs.

“What about your ring? I feel bad I let them get it.” Damian pulls the ring out of his pocket and shows Jon. Jon’s face morphs from shame to shock, “How-”

“I did a switcheroo with Djinn’s egg and my ring. As she wanted.” Damian shrugs, putting the ring on. “Come on, let’s dance.” Damian holds out a hand, Jon hesitates for a moment before smiling and taking it. Damian pulls him out onto the dance floor, and the pair dance the night away.

~~~~~~~~

“Damian! Look!” Jon yells, barging into Damian’s room. His hair was bright green.

“You did that on purpose?” Damian asks.

“Yeah! Isn’t it awesome?”

“It’s, impressive.” Damian looks at Jon’s outfit, “but shouldn’t you be focused on getting dressed?”

Jon looks down at himself, “I am dressed.”

“Don’t you remember? We’re doing class outside today.” Damian waves his fingers and changes Jon into a blue turtleneck tank top under a Safari Romper, with knee high socks and hiking boots. Jon pulls at the new outfit.

“Firstly, you are _so_ teaching me how to do that. Secondly, is this really a good outfit for outside class? I think my jeans were better suited for it.”

Damian rolls his eyes, “It’s a uniform Jon. Alfea has them for certain classes. That’s the uniform for exploring the woods around Alfea.” Damian changes his own clothes into a Safari Romper with a green turtleneck tank top underneath. 

“I still don’t think this is a good uniform for being outside, but whatever. Let’s go.” Damian follows Jon out of his room. 

“Did you hear? Palladium is taking us out to the Black Mud Swamp today.” Djinn asks, clearly excited.

“Black Mud Swamp?” Jon repeats.

“It’s in the forest outside Alfea. There aren’t any animals there, but there are a lot of plants.” Damian explains, “Are we all ready to go?”

Wally and Billy get up from where they were seated and make noises of affirmation. 

“Then lets go.” Djinn says with a smile, leading them out.

Damian stops Jon when he goes to follow, “Are you forgetting something?” Damian gestures to his hair. Jon seemed confused for a second before realizing and shutting his eyes, his hair was back to black a moment later. Damian nods and the pair head out of the dorm, catching up with their dormmates quickly.

\----Jon POV---

“So, why are you so excited to be going to Black Mud Swamp?” Jon asks as they head into the School Hall for breakfast. Djinn seemed to be mostly into potions and books, at least that’s what Jon had gotten from her.

“I’m a Nature Fairy Jon, I’m always excited to be around nature.” Djinn states with a smile.

“Oh yeah,” Jon had nearly forgotten about that. Djinn wasn’t really what he pictured when he thought of Nature Fairy. She didn’t have many plants, she still had _some_ but it was a normal amount. Not the amount Jon thought a nature Fairy would have.

“Just because I prefer books doesn’t mean I don’t love Nature Jon. I just find Nature is much kinder when you don’t take it out of its element.” 

“Ohkay,” Jon wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but he wasn’t sure if it would be polite to ask.

Wally had no such restrictions, “What does that mean?”

“Plants can grow quite upset when they’re brought indoors. Nature is nature, and it should not be disturbed.” Djinn, explains? Jon wasn’t entirely sure if it could be counted as an explanation since he was just as confused as before, if not more.

“Magic works best if you don’t think too deeply into it.” Damian states, “The harder you think about the world, the less sense it makes.”

“That’s…” confusing? Annoying? Stupid? All of the above? Jon wasn’t entirely sure, but Damian was right. The more Jon thought about this world, the less sense it made. Fairy Transformations for one! Who wears heels to a fight? His mom complains about having to walk in them during work, and hers are relatively short. Shorter than the ones Jon now deals with in his Fairy Form. 

“I’m excited about WizGiz’s class. What do you think he’ll have us do out in the forest?” Wally asks, changing the subject to something Jon can’t really follow. It’s the third day of classes, and he hasn’t picked up that much. The others reply, excitedly chatting. Using words Jon’s not really familiar with.

“Wizgiz will most likely try to get us to camouflage ourselves to match the forest,” Damian says, rather quietly, not breaking into their friend’s conversation. “That’s what they’re talking about. Just in more words.”

“Oh, thanks.” Damian was surprisingly perceptive. If Jon didn’t know any better, he’d think Damian was a telepath. Wait… Jon grabbed Damian’s arm, making the other boy stop, “Are you a telepath?” Jon whispers.

Damian looked at Jon as if he were an idiot, “No. You just telegraph.”

“Telegraph?”

“When you’re upset, you show upset on your face, when you’re confused, you show your confusion. You don’t hide your emotions.” Damian explains and starts walking again, Jon falls into step beside him.

“Am I that obvious?” Jon didn’t think he was. But, he also didn’t understand why he would hide his emotions in the first place? Especially ones like confusion and being upset.

“Yes.” The pair enter the School hall, back to being their breakfast area instead of a party hall, and sit down with their friends.

“What held you two up?” Wally asks.

“Jon had questions.” Damian states before digging into his food.

“Ookay.” Wally changed the subject,”So, Jon, having fun at Alfea so far?”

Jon nods, “Yeah. It’s been hard but it’s exciting being here, surrounded by magic. It’s, awesome. I have some issues with the outdoor uniform though.” Because this Romper stopped at his midthigh and was not good for exploring the wilderness. 

“Yeah, there’s, uh, not much practicality at Alfea.” Wally says, sounding slightly apologetic. 

Billy snorts, “There’s not much practicality in magic in general. Most of our forms have high heels. Not to mention the minor coverage most get and how impractical it is to fight in skirts and dresses that barely cover one’s butt.”

“Says the guy with a bodysuit.” Wally snarks.

“I lucked out with that. Unlike you all.”

“History shows that once you reach Enchantix your luck’ll run out.” Djinn interjects.

“Enchantix?” Jon asks, confused, Georgia had mentioned it, and Damian had kind of explained it, but Jon was still confused about what that had to do with outfits.

“One of the main fairy forms.” Damian answers promptly, “Basix, Charmix and Enchantix. You currently have Basix. You’ll achieve Charmix sometime next year, hopefully. You’ll earn it when a) you’ve grown enough to handle it and b) overcome a problem or emotional turmoil. For example, with the ball, you overcame your emotional turmoil, if you had been ready for Charmix, you probably would’ve earned it then. Enchantix will come after Charmix, it marks you as a fully fledged fairy and is required if you want to graduate. To acquire Enchantix, you have to save someone from your home world and show great sacrifice while doing so. So, save someone at risk of your own life. Enchantix forms typically consist of crop tops and a short skirt or shorts. Sometimes a dress.”

“Woah.” That, was a lot. Georgia had mentioned more transformations yesterday, but Jon hadn’t expected that.

“Crap, the time. We gotta get to Palladium’s class.” Wally says, standing up. The rest of them closely follow and rush to Palladium’s classroom. 

“Ah, boys, thank you for joining us, we’re just about to head out to the Black Mud Swamp.” Palladium greets, and then the entire class was transported out the Black Mud Swamp.

When they land, Jon latches onto Damian, “That wasn’t as smooth as yours.” 

Damian rolls his eyes but doesn’t make Jon let go, or make any comment really, so Jon decides it’s okay. 

“Today’s exercise will be rather difficult. It will require you to not use magic. Instead, listen to the voice of nature, follow the advice it gives.”

“Voice of nature?” Jon mutters, deciding to ask Damian, or Djinn, after Palladium is done.

“Now, I put you all into groups back in the classroom, but since a few of you were late, I reiterate one of the groups. Damian, Djinn, Wallace, William, and Jon. The rest of you are aware of your groupings.” Jon feels slightly embarrassed about being called out, but Damian seems unbothered, so Jon tries to tamp down the feeling. “Your task for today’s lesson is to get out of Black Mud Swamp and to the clearing in the middle of Gloomy Wood Forest _without_ using magic. Good luck, and make haste young fairies.” With that, Palladium disappears.

“What’s the voice of nature?” Jon asks, detaching himself from Damian.

“It’s pretty self-explanatory Jon. It’s nature’s voice. Just, shut up and listen to the nature around you.” Damian shrugs.

“Alright, should we get going?” Wally asks, everyone nods and Djinn starts leading them away. Damian hangs near the back, which confuses Jon, but he doesn’t comment on it. Damian can be weird sometimes. 

“Should you really be going in there?” Damian asks when they start to enter a swamp, he was staying out of it, arms crossed with a raised eyebrow.

“The voice of nature is calling us this way.” Djinn states.

“Sure, but do you _have_ to go through this swamp?”

“Going around it would take longer.”

“Right. Why don’t you _stop_ listening to nature’s voice, and listen to your olfactory sense?” Damian taps his nose twice. Jon sniffs and recoils, quickly getting out of the swamp.

“What’s that smell?” Jon asks, plugging his nose and standing behind Damian.

“The swamp? Swamps smell.” Billy points out.

“That’s not swamp smell. That’s,” Damian sniffs, “probably an explosive gas. Get out.” The others get out, some rolling their eyes. Once everyone is out, Damian fires magic at a bubble and it explodes in flames. “Probably be smarter to go around.”

“Yeah.” 

The group changes course, going around the swamp.

“How did you know the swamp was dangerous? Did the voice of nature warn you?”

Damian raises an eyebrow at Jon’s question, “There is more to surviving the wilderness than just listening to the voice of nature.”

“And what does a prince know of surviving in the wilderness?”

“My mother would drop me in the Solaria wilderness three days trek from any civilization. I had to survive on my own, if I died,” Damian shrugged, “I died. I leant how to survive. Listen to the voice of nature, yes, but also listen to your senses.” Jon and most of the others were still reeling from the revelation Damian’s mother didn’t care if he lived or died. Djinn didn’t even blink.

“We’ll keep that in mind.” Djinn states, “But the lesson is to listen to the voice of nature. So, perhaps, Damian can keep his senses about while we listen to the voice of nature? Especially since he’s the most equipped?” 

Damian narrows his eyes, “Aren’t you a fairy of nature?”

“Yes, which makes me very attuned to the voice of nature, but i’m afraid as a _fairy_ of nature, I tend to rely on magic, which has been prohibited in this lesson.” Djinn reminds with a smile.

“Right,” Damian drawls, rolling his eyes, “So, should I tell you all my ‘senses’ tell me The clearing we’re meant to get to the other way,” Damian pointed behind him.

“How do you know that?” Wally asks, surprised and suspicious.

Damian scoffs, “I learnt every inch of this forest before attending, and the clearing Palladium referred to is to the south of Black Mud Swamp. We’re currently heading north. But, if the voice of nature is telling you north, something is probably going to happen north.”

“Who does _that_?” Billy asks, clearly shocked, as was Wally and Djinn.

“Cool,” Jon says, because it is cool. He'd never of thought to scout out the forest around their school.

“It’s weird, but whatever. So, should we head to the clearing?” Wally asks.

“Palladium said to heed the voice of nature. We should do as it’s telling us and head north.” Djinn states decisively.

“I’d say we listen to our nature fairy.”

“I agree with Damian. Djinn probably knows best.” Jon states, Billy and Wally nod in agreement. 

“Then let’s listen to nature and go where it guides us.” Djinn says, already moving forward.

The others follow easily, trusting Djinn to guide them in the correct direction, Damian still hung around the back of the group, so Jon hung with him. They trek around for a few minutes, going wherever nature’s voice guided them.

“Does anyone else feel like we’re going in circles?” Jon asks, he’s pretty sure Damian would tell them if they had just been circling, but he also might not. Letting everyone listen to the voice of nature and all.

“We haven’t. But we have been going in circular motions. We get into a half circle before changing course, making another half circle, and changing course and so on and so forth.” Damian explains, “If I had to guess, something’s going to happen on the swamp over there.” 

“Why is this place called Black Mud Swamp if the entire thing isn’t a swamp?” Jon asks.

“Because there are dozens of Black Mud Swamps in this area.”

“Oh.” That makes sense. “Can the voice of Nature predict stuff?” At the relatively confused looks Jon gets, he explains, “Just Damian keeps saying ‘somethings _going_ to happen’ and the voice of nature is leading us to where this mysterious thing is going to happen, how does it know what’s going to happen?”

Most of the group still looks confused, but Damian and Djinn look like they’re thinking on Jon’s question. Before they can answer however, something crashes into the swamp next to them. “The fuck?” Jon isn’t entirely sure who swore, but that doesn’t really matter. Instead, he follows Damian as they rush towards the wreckage of a ship.

“What is that?”

“A ship from Red Fountain.”

“Damian that’s the Hunter Troll!” Jon shouts pointing off towards the side where the purple troll was walking off. Damian looks to where the Troll is, then back to the ship. 

“Djinn, Wally, Billy, check the ship for specialists! Jon, with me.” Damian says, running off after the Troll, transforming as they go. Jon tripped a bit, not used to transforming on the go, especially changing from boots to heels, but Damian’s stride did not change. Both of them quickly take to the air, following after the Hunter Troll. Damian threw a couple shots at the Troll but it largely ignore them. Then, suddenly a wall of ice appeared in front of them. Damian stops before he hits it, Jon is not so graceful and slams into the wall. Damian melts the wall while Jon recovers, and once the wall is gone, all traces of the Hunter Troll are gone too.

“Where did it go?” Jon asks, flying up to hover beside Damian.

“Someone helped it escape. A witch. Let’s get back to the ship, see if the Specialists are alright.” Damian orders, and Jon follows as they turn and head back to where they came. They land in the swamp as an argument was going on. Damian detransforms and walks over to the group, Jon right behind him, also detransformed. “What’s going on here?” Damian demands.

“None of your business _fairy_.” One of the specialists sneer.

“Considering you crashed your ship in the middle of our lesson, it is our business. Especially since you crashing your ship let a Hunter Troll escape.”

“ _We_ didn’t crash our ship, _they_ did.” The Specialist states, pointing to Emiko and Crush, who were standing with the other fairies instead of the specialists.

“You were on the ship?”

“Yeah.”

“You were in the cockpit?”

“Yes.”

“Then the crash is as much your fault as anyone else within the cockpit.” The specialist opened his mouth to argue but Damian snaps his fingers and the boy is gagged. “But that is irrelevant. We have a class of fairies out here, and a Hunter Troll on the loose that is being aided by witches. We need to find it before it causes any harm.” Just as Damian finishes, a couple other groups come up to them.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Georgia asks.

“There’s a Hunter Troll on the loose. I’d advise quickening your pace and informing Palladium when you finish the assignment, and being careful.” 

“What are you going to do?”

“We’re going to hunt the Troll and get it back into custody.” One of the specialists, one not gagged, snorts derisively at Damian statement.

“Your _fairies_ , a Hunter Troll is a little out of your league. You should leave it to the specialists.”

Damian raises an eyebrow at the comment, “It’s a good thing we intend to take Specialists with us. Emiko, Crush, do you object to helping us hunt the Troll?”

“No.” The girls chorus.

“Wonderful. Then, _we_ will find the Hunter Troll, and you all,” Damian gestures to the other specialists, “can wait for specialists to show up. Since, with us taking the girls, you’re clearly lacking.”

Jon giggles at the dig, as do the other fairies.

The specialist sneer again, “And what’ll you do when it attacks you? You honestly think you’ll be able to take is on?” Damian rolls his eyes and pulls something out of his romper, a small metal tube. Damian pushes something and extends into the staff he had used in Magix to fight off those witches. Similar to then, Damian uses the staff to make quick work of the specialists, easily defeating them. 

“Yes, whatever will I do? I’ll be so completely helpless without you big strong men to protect me.” Damian comments sarcastically, collapsing the staff back into the small tube and putting it back into a pocket in his romper. “Let’s go.” Damian orders, waving for the others to follow him. “Oh, and maybe fix your ship!” Damian calls back to the specialists.

“Are they always like that?” Jon asks after they had been walking for a while, Djinn and Damian leading the way.

“The boys?” Emiko asks, Jon nods and she sighs, “Kind of. Specialists are typically boys, especially at Red Fountain. It’s part of their thing, I think. Me and Crush are the only girls at Red Fountain, which _sucks_. And we’re only there because the other school we were going to for Specialists that taught girls, kind of, maybe, expelled us?”

“How did you get expelled?”

“Beat up a teacher.” Crush answers.

 _“Why?”_ Jon can’t imagine beating up a teacher. He liked his teachers.

“He was a creep. Someone had to do something.”

Emiko nods along with Crush, “Yeah, so, we, kind of, made it so he will be eating through a straw for the rest of his life. The administration wasn’t very happy with that, much less happy when they heard _why_ we did it. Anyways my brother, Ollie, knows the headmaster of Red Fountain, Saladin, and managed to convince him to take us on. Let’s just say, the other students were less than pleased.” Emiko explains.

“Oh, that sucks.”

Emiko shrugs, “Yeah, well, they have to learn at some time girls can kick their asses.”

“I guess. They still seem unnecessarily mean. Why were they trying to use Fairy as an insult?”

“Specialists are trained to be as competent as they are. Most specialists view fairies as people just gifted with magic and abilities. Yes you have to train to hone it, but you’re powerful without the training. It makes them feel, inferior.”

“Oh.”

“Anyone who thinks like that is an idiot. We train to fight alongside magic-users, not against. We’re allies, not enemies. And to feel inferior to your allies is proof of a weak heart and ego.” Crush cuts in.

“Jon, Damian wishes to speak with you.” Djinn says, having fallen back to them. Jon nods, confused as to why Damian didn’t just call for him, but hurries to the front of the group.

“You needed me?”

“Nope, Djinn just wanted to flirt.” Damian states.

“Oh,” She could’ve just said so. Jon would’ve left her alone with Crush. He had heard all last night about how big her crush on Crush was. “So, how’s the tracking going?”

“Fine. Nature’s voice is being very kind and leading us to the troll.” Damian seems to hesitate, clearly thinking about something before he says, “Good job, earlier. You only transformed for the first time last night, but you transformed on the go quite well and you detransformed of your own will.”

Jon was, somewhat shocked, did Damian just _compliment_ him? “Was that a compliment?”

“It was a objective judgement of your skills.” Damian dismisses.

“Nooo, it was a compliment. You complimented me.” Jon cheers. Damian rolls his eyes but does not comment further. “So, how close are we to the Troll?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like this. We’re heading deeper into the swamp.”

“So?”

“The deeper you go, the harder it is for people to find you.”

“...What?” What did that have to do with them?

“If we can’t beat the Hunter Troll, there won’t be anyone around to help us. Palladium can’t teleport that far.” Damian explains.

“Well, we’ll just have to beat the Hunter Troll then.” Jon says, trying not to think about if they lose. Mostly because Damian just implied they’d die if they lose. So, not an option.

Damian hums in agreement and the conversation between them lulls into a comfortable silence. A silence broken by screaming. Damian rushes off into the direction it came from, Jon and the others hot on his heels. When they arrive, Georgia and her group are cornered by the Hunter Troll, Georgia is holding it off with magic but her teammates are screaming.

“We’ll attack it, get the cuffs on.” Emiko orders and whips out her bow, firing shots at the Hunting Troll, drawing his attention, Crush launches herself at the Troll. 

“Who had the cuffs?” Damian asks, holding his hand out, Wally hands a pair of metal cuffs over as quickly as possible. “Help them.” Damian orders, slinking off to the side. Jon attacks the Troll without a second thought, the others quickly following. It feels like forever before Damian reappears and latches the cuffs onto the Troll. The Troll howls in anger and protest, but Crush uses Damian’s metal staff to hit it over the head hard enough that the staff breaks and knocks the Troll out. Damian takes the remnants of his staff from Crush, “Thanks.” 

“Do you need help getting him back to the ship?” Georgia asks, stepping forward.

“We’ll manage.” Damian dismisses, the other group of fairies nodding and leaving. “One of you called more specialists right?” Damian looks to Crush and Emiko.

“Duh. I’ve been sending out our coordinates since we started hunting.” Emiko states, “I’ve sent out the message we’ve recaptured the Hunter Troll.” It only takes a few minutes for another Red Fountain air craft to appear, landing in the clearing they were in. The men that came out of it were older than the other ones. 

“We’ll take it from here.” One of them says, snapping a collar onto the Hunter Troll and along with a few others, dragging him onto the ship. Jon considers offering help, but he wouldn’t actually be any help. If they could help, Jon assumed Damian or someone would offer.

“You two did really good. Come on, we’ll take you back to Red Fountain after dropping the Troll at Judiciary. We sent another craft to help the other specialists. Do you fairies need help getting back to Alfea?” Another Specialist asks, perfectly polite and kind. Why couldn’t they have dealt with these guys earlier?

“Thank you, but no, we are on an assignment from our teacher.”Djinn says with a gentle smile, “Damian, let’s head to the clearing.” 

“Alright, good luck!” The specialists call as the Fairies depart.

“That was a fun detour.” Wally comments as they follow Damian to the clearing.

“Yeah, but it cost us time. We’re probably the last there.” Billy complains.

“We helped though. Aren’t we meant to help when we can?” Jon asks, confused.

“Uh, sure.”

“If Palladium is mad, we can make the argument we were simply helping out Specialists and making sure our classmates were safe. Hunter Trolls are dangerous.” Damian interjects.

“You mean, you, right?”

Damian rolls his eyes, “Yes, I will argue on all our behalves.” 

“Sweet. So, after this, we have WizGiz’s class.” Wally points out.

“I’m sure that’ll be more enjoyable than this was.”

“Only because we detoured. I found this activity rather fun.” Djinn defends. Jon and Damian remain out of the friendly argument that ensues.

“What’s the voice of nature like?” Jon asks quietly, not wanting to draw attention from their other friends.

Damian raises an eyebrow, but answers, “It’s not an actual voice. It’s a feeling, a guide. It’s soft, friendly, like a mothers’ embrace. You’ve most likely felt it before, but didn’t know what it was.”

Jon nods, he didn’t exactly agree with Damian, he can’t really recall anything like that, but knowing what to expect would help him identify it in the future. A couple minutes later, they arrive at the clearing.

“Ah, our last stragglers. I heard you all had quite the detour.” Palladium greets.

“Yes. We diverged from the task you set so we could assist some Specialists in hunting down a Hunter Troll. It felt more important, Hunter Trolls can be very dangerous.” Damian explains.

“Of course, I’m quite proud of you. You all recognized what was important in that moment and followed your gut, as well as the voice of nature. Top marks all around!” Palladium declares happily. “Now, off to Wizgiz!” Palladium says and once more, teleports the whole class.

\---------------

“Did we just play hide and seek for two hours?” Jon asks as they head back to Alfea, because he’s ninety percent sure they had just played hide and seek for marks. Jon hadn’t done that since kindergarten!

“We were tasked with disguising ourselves among the foliage and not letting WizGiz find us. So, yes. Yes, we just played Hide and seek for two hours for marks.” Damian confirms, looking completely unbothered by the revelation.

“Magic School is weird.”

“Mmhmm, you get used to it.”

“I guess. We would never waste five hours like that at my old school.”

Damian rolls his eyes, “We didn’t waste five hours. The voice of nature is important, it’ll help you if you’re ever trapped in the woods without access to your magic. And knowing how to disguise yourself can be the difference between life and death. We learned important lessons today.”

“It felt like we wandered around the swamp for three hours and played magic hide and seek for two.”

Damian sighs, “Perhaps you’ll enjoy tomorrow lessons better. We’re going to learn how to utilize our magic. Transformation, spells, the works. And, we’ll be learning how to make some potions.”

“Yup, you’re right, I will _definitely_ enjoy tomorrows lessons more.” Jon says, excited. He’s wanted to know how to utilize his transformation and the magic that comes with it since, well, last night. And potions sound awesome!

Damian shakes his head, “We spent all day learning magic, and you’re more interested in transformation and potions.”

“We haven’t done any of that yet.” Jon whines. “This is new and exciting.”

“Yeah, tomorrow you’ll opinion will change.” Damian states.

“Nu uh, I’ll always think it’s awesome and exciting.”

_-Tomorrow-_ 

“This sucks and I hate you.”

“Awww, transformation lessons not what you thought?” Damian asks, mocking and sounding not at all concerned. He poked Jon with his solar sceptre a couple times, but Jon doesn’t move from where he’s splayed out on the ground.

“Everything _hurts_ ,” Jon whines.

“You poor thing.” Damian was unrepentant and unsympathetic.

“Damian, perhaps you and Jon should take a break,” Faragonda recommends, walking by the pair.

“Yes Headmistress.” Jon just groans in response and detransforms.

“You are a terrible person.” Damian smirks at Jon’s declaration.

“I know, it keeps me up at night.” Jon just groans in response.

**Author's Note:**

> Currently my Update Schedule for this is weekly. So, every Monday, hopefully. However, I'm still writing this so, while I'm hoping I can stick with that, I might not, and I'm sorry if I don't.
> 
> Kudos and Comments are appreciated, if you have a question, I'll do my best to answer it.


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